Bentley unveils $2 million car with trim made from 5,000 year-old wood

PanARMENIAN.Net - Bentley has unveiled the Mulliner Bacalar, a $2 million open-topped car with interior trim that's made from trees that fell 5,000 years ago. Only 12 of these cars will be made, Bentley said, according to CNN.

The company had planned to reveal the Bacalar at the Geneva Motor Show, which canceled due to concerns about the coronavirus. Like many other automakers slated to present at the show, Bentley decided to unveil the car online instead.

The Bacalar is a Barchetta, a type of open car with no roof whatsoever. (The word means "little boat" in Italian.) There's not even a removable cloth top. So, in the event of rain, the Bacalar would be best served by staying in the garage.

The all-wheel drive car is powered by a 650 horsepower 12-cylinder engine and it has an eight-speed transmission. Most of the time, power will go to the rear wheels but it can also immediately be sent to the front wheels as well if there is a loss of traction.

The Bacalar is named after a lake in Mexico's Yucatan peninsula known for its beauty. While it bears some resemblance to the convertible Bentley Continental GTC, the Bacalar shares none of its body parts with that car besides the door handles, Bentley said.

The interior wood trim is made from trees that have been naturally preserved for more than 5,000 years in the rivers, lakes and peat bogs of East Anglia in the United Kingdom. Aging for five millennia in wet soil has given the wood a distinct black color. After being dug up from the earth, the wood was dried in carefully controlled conditions to prevent decay while preserving its natural look, according to Bentley.